>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," in a campaign with everything else, why not a monster storm? with just sten days left until election day, it is almost over. we've had the conventions, the debates, and now some along the east coast are pordin are aboarding up while others are trying to vote early before the big blow they're call frankenstorm hits. it could threaten 64 million americans. we'll get the latest from our correspondents and weather experts. with the polls closer than ever, they still had a spring in their step and a smile on their faces this weekend. ♪ oh, baby here i am, ♪ >> i want you to know how optimistic i am.

this is about to get real good. >> we now have gone through months of campaigning, wasted many tv ads. oh, yes. got an amen over here. >> schieffer: we'll get the latest from republican senator john mccain, and obama supporter mayor rahm emanuel of chicago. plus analysis from ruth marcus of the "washington post." mark leibovich of the "new york times magazine." bob shrum of the the "daily beast." john fund of the "national review." and cbs news political director, john dickerson. here comes the storm because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. welcome to "face the nation." and if there were not enough

political and weather news, add this-- an earthquake that measures a magnitude of 7.7 has taken place off the coast of western canada. no injuries or damage reported so far there. so we're going to start with the big storm up the east coast of the united states, hurricane sandy. for that, we go to chief meteorologist david bernard from our miami, florida, station wfor. dave, tell us what you know. >> reporter: all right, good morning, bob. all right the weather is starting to affect the mid-atlantic states and the outer banks of north carolina. we can see sandy's rain bands already spreading well inland. this is a massive storm so the weather is going downhill today for the entire east coast. now, this is the wind field forecast. this is for 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. we'll have tropical storm-force winds overspreading almost all of the east coast of the united states, and the hurricane-force wind gusts will begin moving onshore during the day tomorrow, last through tomorrow night, and

probably into tuesday morning as well. you can just see how massive this storm actually is going to be. and that's why we're so worriedly about the storm surge danger. if you're being asked to evacuate, you definitely need to. this is going to bring a tremendous amount of water near and just north of wherever the storm eventually makes landfall. and be-ause up the coast, we could see heavy rains parts of the area, a lot of maryland under a flood watch now as well, 5-10 inches of rain locally could fall in some spots. we have all the ingredients of a terrible storm, bob, coastal flooding, inland nothing. power outages are going to be a huge problem and in the mountains we could be talking about a lot of snow. >> schieffer: thank you very much, dave. and now to cbs news national correspondent chip reid who is in ocean city, maryland. chip, is it there yet? >> reporter: well, not quite the full force of it yet, bob, but we are certainly feeling stronger winds, and the surf is certainly riled up.

the mayor here wants to make sure people don't get complacent, basis year ago, hurricane irene, they had all these dire warnings, and it really didn't do much to this city. he wants to make sure they understand that this time there really could be some severe flooding, a storm surge of 4-eight of 8 feet which would mean where i'm standing will certainly be underwater. he's warning people in the low-lying parts of the island to prepare to evacuate. he said power could be out for days. they need a disaster supply kit. it's very important that people don't get complacent based on what happened a year ago because this one could be much worse. bob. >> schieffer: all right, thank you, my friend. chip reid in maryland. let's go now to cbs news correspondent elaine quijano. she is at point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. elaine, what's the latest there? >> reporter: good morning to you, bob. well, governor chris christie has declared a statement of emergency here in new jersey, and he's also ordered the mandatory evacuation for residents who live on the

barrier islands. that begin at 4:00 this afternoon. really, the big concern here is the water. officials say the storm surge, combined with high tiepped, could send water levels much higher than normal. anywhere from 4-8 feet in some areas. another concern, of course, is downed power lines with the approaching winds here. local power companies have been prepositioning their trucks and their crews so that they can be ready to respond once this storm actually does pass. now, to of to the north in new york city, officials have opened up emergency shelters for any residents who want to go ahead and take advantage of that. there is some worry about flooding, particularly in lower manhattan. and mayor michael bloomberg is urging residents to stay inside as hurricane sandy approaches. another big worry, of course, the mass transit. officials will decide today if in fact theyment to keep the

mass transit system open. bob. >> schieffer: okay, thank you very much, elaine. and before we turn to politics, one other weather note. governor cuomo has announced that the new york subway bus and train system will shut down at 7:00 p.m. tonight. there's also news this morning on the campaign front. mitt romney has won the endorsement of the "des moines register" in battleground state iowa. this has not gone to a republican presidential candidate since richard nixon. so to get some reaction to that, and other things, we go to our go-to guy in arizona for news, weather, and sports, john mccain. how's the weather out there, senator? and good morning to you. >> it's very nice and balmy. i think the storm may not reach arizona. but, obviously, the disruption of the airline-- the whole nation, obviously, and our prayers and thoughts are with those who line the path of the storm, and we'll keep praying. >> schieffer: all right. i want to ask you about that

endorsement by the "des moines register." i mean, sometimes endorsements matter. sometimes they don't. it what about this one? >> i think in ray close race, the "register" is very well regarded, and of course it's almost a man bites doggistic because the "register" has not endorsed a republican since, i guess, calvin coolidge. i don't know. i think that aspect of it is-- makes it a big story. and of course it's bound to help a little bit, least, in a very close race, and we view iowa as almost a toss-up. >> schieffer: actually, not since richard nixon. he was the last republican. >> okay. >> schieffer: let me ask you this, senator-- in the last days of this campaign, if this storm turns out to be what they're telling us it's going too, who gets hurt the most by it? >> i'm not sure that it gets hurt. but i-- i think that the president of the united states is the commander in chief.

the american people look to him, and i'm sure he will conduct himself and play his leadership role in a fine fashion. so i would imagine that might help him a little bit. but i'm not sure it will affect votes. people have been exposed to this very long democrat. for the first time, foreign policy is now part of this discussion that we're having. i've been traveling all over. this tragedy turned into a deboch expel massive cover-up or massive incompetence in libya is having an effect on the voter because of their view of the commander in chief. and it is now the worst cover-up or incompetence that i have ever observed in my life. >> schieffer: let me get to that in a second. let me just ask you what you said there. are you saying the president, should he come off the campaign trial now and devote himself to directing efforts and that sort of thing? >> i'm sure he will.

at least for a period of time i'm sure that the president will. we all remember new orleans. >> schieffer: what about-- what about what you just said about libya? are you saying now that this was a deliberate cover-up coming out of the libya, that in fact this was not what the administration said it was, but something else entirely, and that, i guess, if it was a cover-up, are you saying they did it for political reasons? >> i don't know if it's either cover-up or gross-- the worst kind of incompetence, which doesn't allow-- doesn't qualify the president as commander in chief. you've got to-- the buildup to it. we knew of two attacks on our consulate. the british ambassador assassination attempt. repeated warnings. repeated warnings. the last message our beloved ambassador sent to us concerns about security in benghazi. he had even voiced them to me

when i was in tripoli. nothing was done. i may not expect the president to know about movement of a few people back and forth, but he certainly should have known about the deteriorating situation and nothing was done. on the day of, obviously, there was no military either capability or orders to intervene in a seven-hour fight. and probably the worst of all of this, of course, is the gross, gross, outrageous statements that he made and his-- i was on your program when susan rice came on. and i was slack-jawed when she went through that routine of t the-- that this was a spontaneous demonstration tricianerred by a video. we now know there was no demonstration. there was no mob. so how could intelligence community ever reach a conclusion that there was a spontaneous demonstration when there wasn't? you know, this administration is very good at touting and giving

all the details like when they got bin laden. but now, we know that there were tapes, recordings inside the consulate during this fight, and they've gotten-- they came-- the f.b.i. finally got in and took those, and now they're classified as "top secret." why would they be top secret? so the property went on various shows, despite what he said he said in the rose garden, about terrift actes, he went on several programes, including "the view" including "letterman" including before the u.n., where he continued to refer, days later, many days later, to this as a spontaneous demonstration because of a hateful video. we know that is patently false. what did the president know? when did he know it? and what did he do about it? >> schieffer: well, i was just going to say, senator, you have called for declassifying the drone pictures. apparently there were drone pictures. why-- have you seen those pictures, senator? >> no, i have not.

but what i do know is, that those in the surveillance records from inside and around the consulate will show that there was no demonstration. the turkish ambassador left his-- the consulate and said good-bye to chris stevens at 8:30 at night. there was no demonstration. so for literally days and days, they told the american people something that had no basis in fact whatsoever. and that is the president of the united states. and so, also, by the way, he said he immediately ordered action to be taken. well, no action was taken over seven hours. now we find out the secretary of defense decided not to take any action. you know, somebody the other day said to me this is as bad as watergate. nobody died in watergate. but this is either a massive cover-up or incompetence that is not acceptable service to the american people. >> schieffer: what do you think mitt romney needs to do if

he called and you said, what, i do need to do now, john, to close this?" what would you tell him? >> i'd say keep doing what he's doing. i think national security, as i said, foreign policy, is now entered into this discussion. i think he is got some momentum. it isn't over till it's over, as yogi used to say. but i think, again, project the image of leadership, capability to be commander in chief, and by the way, this-- this whole debacle in libya has exposedly the failures of the obama foreign policy whether it be in iraq, where al qaeda is now on the upswing. there's al qaeda training camps in iraq. there's iranian planes flying weapons to bashar assad over iraq. syria, 34,000 people now killed, and it's now spilling over into lebanon, turkey, et cetera. all we do is say to the people in afghanistan that we're leaving and we're seeing this

terrible killing of american soldiers. on and on. this is a foreign policy failure. and the american people may take that into consideration a week from tuesday. >> schieffer: all right, senator, thank you so much. i have to move on. thank you for being with us. we'll be back with former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel in one minute. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in?

maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >> schieffer: and joining us now from akron, ohio, the mayor of chicago, rahm emanuel. mr. mayor, thank you so much. and i'm never one to presume to know what the answers are before i ask the questions, but my guess is you will will have a slightly different take on events and what we just heard from senator mccain. >> very good, bob. yes. first of all, the president immediately ordered an investigation into what happened in benghazi. second, he wants to find out

who's responsible. and third, he will bring them to justice, just like he brought bin laden, and he did refer to the event as a terrorist act. when mitt romney said he did. so that's number one. and the events there are a human tragedy. it's an assault on america. and as commander in chief, he took control and he said exactly what needs to be done. none of us are privy to the information. i'm not. i'm the mayor of the city of chicago. but if the commander in chief says i want to get to the bottom of it, i want an investigation, get the report, find out who is accountable, who is responsible for this act, and we will bring them to justice, just like he did when he brought justice to osama bin laden and the al qaeda leadership that is decimated in the afghanistan and pakistan area and just like he did to alawki hiding in yemen who tried to bring two terrorist attacking to the united states. that's what the commander in chief was. >> schieffer: you weren't there, but you were white house

chief of staff-- >> rumor has it. >> schieffer: so many of-- versions of events could come out of this thing? i mean, you know, yes, yes, he-- yes, he said in the rose garden, he referred to a terrorist attack. but five days later, susan rice was right here on this broadcast and on other sunday broadcasts saying that no, it wasn't. and i mean, how is that that could happen? that was just-- go ahead. >> bob, first of all, no, bob, you have an event, a changing event. you don't have people on the ground with that information. the intelligence community, many different apparatus from military intelligence, national security, cia, is acellpling that information and events change. when susan but out there she was working off the intelligence provided that the point. let me go toy point the senator just said. you have benghazi, information changes while asking for

realtime information. you're getting that changed all the time while the intelligence community assesses what happened. the senator made a point about foreign policy. let's go through this. on iran, when we-- when the president came into office, america was isolated from the world and people were questioning our judgments. three years later, the tables have been turned, and iran is now isolate from the the rest of the world. you have crip sanctions. that is not a failure. that is a success of america's leadership. second, since we have been at war for decadees, two wars, one the longest in american history. the president committed to bring iraq to an end, and now our word is committed and people know it, and seen what we have done. second he had a surge in afghanistan, and now we're withdrawing, all with the purpose of coming home and building america and the best foreign policy you can have is a strong america at home. and he's made sure we ipvest here in america and invest in our roads and bridges and highways and our schools and our broadband, our infrastructure and our educational system. that's the strongest part of our

foreign policy. third, he's reoriented america towards the pacific and making sure we are there as a credible ally to our aauthorize as china is emerging. at every level america's foreign policy abroad in europe, asia, africa, the middle east is respected because they have seen this president take decisive leadership, take positions that he has executed from iran to the protection of israel, to change the war in iraq and america's foreign fols rebuilding us at home, reorienting america's resources to the the threat coming, the challenge coming from china. that is a foreign policy that has made america continue to be the leader of the free world and with its values. and i would actually disagree with what the senator said. if you look across the waterfront, america's leadership has never been stronger. >> schieffer: why do you think this vase so close righ race is so close right now? >> first of all, there's a lot at stake. we have still a lot of work, allegation want president said, to come home and build m. we just ended a decade, two

major events. we have the longest war in american history. we drained our resources. and for the first decade in american history, during the bush presidency, america's middle class saw their household income declean. and that is a rupture in the american fabric. and the president said to be strong at home, to be strong abroad, you must have an economic strategy built on the middle class. they weathered the worst recession in the american history. and step by step, right here in ohio he took the most courageous act also, to rebuild the auto industry. i just left toledo, where they are adding a third shift to the jeep factory there. if it was up to mitt romney, he would have let it all go bankrupt because of the president's decision against conventional wisdom out of washington and new york, those auto jobs are beingaldealded and america is now adding auto jobs. it's strengthening not only those jobs but communities like toledo. i'm in akron, and you can see

ohio-- when the president came into office the unemployment level in ohio was north of 10%. today it's at 7%, three full points drop. why? because of the decision putting the auto industry and the auto communities first, not letting it go bankrupt, like mitt romney. now, we know-- we're nowhere close where we need to be and the president says to get-- to build america at home, invest in our schools, invest in our people, our roads, our bridges and railway and airports and that's how you make america that has a 21st century economy running on a 21st century foundation. >> schieffer: what happened to the women's vote? the prfs the way ahead. that seems to be closing. are you going to be able to get that back? >> i'm here in ohio. i just checked the early vote. the president is up almost two to one over mitt romney. and that's an indication that the field operation, the communication strategy, and the message of a resurgence of strengthening middle class is essential. and also the choice that women have to face on a host of issues

from economic to health care issues that i think the president's message is right for them. if you look at the early votes in iowa, ohio, florida, the president's campaign is actually-- an investment that he made in the "get out of vote" effort identifying their voters is starting to pay off because they're beating all their numbers from '08. >> schieffer: we have to stop you there. the clock ran out. back with personal thoughts nay second. >> thanks, bob. born with. something you'r and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter.

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the debates do matter and people like them. around 60 million people will gather around their television sets on three separate nights. that means it's obvious voters find them relevant. even more important, they are one of the rare events left in modern politics that people from both sides of the political spectrum will watch at the same time. even when you zto hold your nose listening to the other guy from time to time can be a learning experience. that's why i believe we should have more, not fewer debates, instead of three. i propose six, with the first one immediately after the political conventions. starting early and sitting the candidates down face to face could change the entire tone of a campaign. an argument with someone you know, even just a little, is generally conducted on a higher plane than an argument with a stranger. anything that gives us a different version of events than what we get in these awful negative ads cannot be all bad. the debates are one of the few

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yes, it is. go national. go like a pro. with features like scanning a barcode to get detailed stock quotes to voice recognition. e-trade leads the way in wherever, whenever investing. download the ultimate in mobile investing apps, free, at e-trade. >> schieffer: some of our stations are leaving us now. for most of you, we'll be back with our powerhouse political roundtable and an update on the weather. stay with us.

>> schieffer: welcome back to "face the nation." joining me our megapanel of some of the best political journalists in the business. ruth marcus is an editorial writer for the "washington post." and columnist mark leibovich writes for the "new york times magazine." and it wouldn't be a political panel without our own john dickerson. on the other side, bob shrum, longtime democratic consultant, now a contributor for the the "daily beast." and john fund writes for the conservative magazine "national review." you know, we've got to talk about the weather this morning, folks. i thought this would be the one thing that wouldn't be entering into this campaign that has a little of of everything else. ruth, what do you think the impact of this thing could be? >> w knew the october surprise was going to be a hurricane? we've had everything else in this campaign. why not that. i think the really interesting phenomenon with the hurricane, or frankenstorm, or whatever we're going to end up calling it, is its intersection with

this other new tom none, which is early voting. we don't really have election day in america anymore. we have election month. and the democrats have actually been a little bit aheadf republicans in 2008, and possibly this cycle. they've certainly been feeling very good about their early voting turnout operation, get out the vote is not just get out the vote on election day. and so to the extent that the hurricane interferes with that ability in states with early voting and we expect maybe 40% of votes could be early votes this election cycle. that's extraordinary to the extent it interfears, you could already hear david axelrod expressing concern this morning. that could be a problem for democrat democrats will. >> schieffer: bob shrum, the traditional thinking is, old people efficient weather is bad-- >> i resemble that remark, too, bob. >> schieffer: they might not bible to get to the polls. and generally it's the zealots who turn out in the worst weather. they're the ones who make sure they get there. >> i think older voteres, unless

they're in a really tough situation are going to go vote because it's almost their avocation. it's a hobby to go vote, not just an obligation. the obama organizational advantage-- and i think he has a real one-- may work out here not in the early voting but in terms of getting people to the polls in the end. i think they have the most in-depth, extensive organization in the history of country. but there's another factor here which is if this storm is bad enough and if tens of millions of people are without power and the seawalls have been breached in new york city, the president's got to get off the campaign trail. he's got to go run the country. that leaves mitt romney in a kind of odd position at that point, too, because he can't look like he's just campaigning. >> schieffer: what does he do, join the national guard? ( laughter ). >> he doesn't want to look like he's faking it and getting in the president's way. you saw john mccain raise the bar for the president. saying remember john mccain suspend-- he did it a couple of times, but one for hurricane gustav, a knocked a day off the republican convention to try to

create a sense of "i'm president." one of the things important about taking the president off the campaign trail in terms of this early vote question, when want president ams can to town he's fly paper and gets people there to the events. what do the campaigns do? they turn those people into solterlz who will then go knock on dispersants on that final push at th end. they also turn them into votes in some states. i was in ohio this week. they were bussing them from the event to the ear polling place where the, where the romney forces were watching to see how big of a turnout they got. if he is not on the trail to have that activity happen, then the early voting has to happen by its own but without that strong push from the candidate. >> they will send bill clinton, michelle obama. they will have other people to do this. >> schieffer: john what, about that? the president can't be out there on the stump if there are people whose lives are in danger? >> no, on the other hand, if you're exercising political leadership from the white house, that shows you're in command and in charge. i think it also can show people

he's a strong active incumnt. there's another political storm i worry about, bob, and it's one we can't predict because it's happened before in florida 2000. if this election is close enough, we could be going to recounts, justly, florida, and not just in one state but several states. we now have 10,000 lawyers monitoring the polls this election. and i fear that with provisional ballots and absentee ballots and all these other things ruth talked about, we my not have a winner on wednesday. and the one thing all of us should hope for is the voters make this decision and it doesn't go to the lawyers and the judges. >> amen. >> that's the first time i've ever agreed with you. >> i'm with you, too, on that. i do think, obviously, the weather is the big "x" factor. and i agree with what you said and with what senator mccain said. this could be a presidential moment for barack obama. he could step back and show a transcendent level of leadership that goes beyond an individual event cancellation, especially and it hits-- i think people

will be looking at him acting in a political way. does virginia get more attention than new york? does it go into ohio? you know, on the other hand, does the romney headquarters in boston lose power? they're very, very little things that actually could have a very, very big effect at this point. >> the president knows what the president's supposed to do in a hurricane, right. you don't just look out the plane window upon you try not to disrupt it, but you look as involvedded as possible and deploy and do it as well as possible. what does the candidate do? and the opposition candidate do in the event of a hurricane? we don't actually really have a great guide post for this. we haven't had a natural disast ther proximate to election day. he can't be going around completely attack the commander in chief, can he, when barack obama is the one who is making sure the sebastian are getting stacked. i think i think it's a little bit of a conundrum. >> schieffer: another thing that just came up and that is

virginia. virginia is one of those places, because it is on the east coast, where the president and mitt romney may not be able to get to during this. they may not be able to get to it before the election if this storm hits. >> the surrogate can't get there either. i think we should explain why democrats may be disadvantaged on the early vote if it kind of comes to a halt. what the democrats are trying to do, if you lookt polls, the president does much better with registered voters than likely voters. leave aside the debate of the polleds which hazy gotten quite vigorous, democrats tend to have difficulty turning out their base as the republicans have. when you can vote for a month long and target the low-propensity voteres, democrats have been targeting those people who just don't always go and vote in midterms. they just vote in presidentials. if they can get all those people to turn out, that's good. the number of days you lose because of the weather to turn out those people who don't normally turn out. that's a challenge. that's why it's a little more of a challenge for the democrats.

>> schieffer: one thing governor mcdonald in virginia is saying he will give priority to getting the power on in the voting places. so-- >> there's a human tragedy here that we ought to knowledge that's going to happen and call on the president to do this not just because it's politically the right thing to do because it's the right thing food you hold that job. you then get into the politics of this. southwest virginia is probably the heart of the republican strength in the state, going to get a massive snowstorm out of this. and so they're going to have to clear that up. and i think it's absolutely right. if it look likes will the president's paying more attention to northern virginia than he is to southwest virginia, that will immediately become an issue. romney,ening the only thing romney can do at that point is go around and give a positive speech about where he wants to take the country. he cannot look like he's attackinthe president. he cannot look like he's exploiting this. i mean, one of the reasons n your debate, by the way, you served up a big fastball on libya, that i think romney ran away from it was because in the 47% tape there was a

little-noticed passage where romney referred to dest 1, the rescue mission in iran where we lost eight service members and said, if something like that happens, i'm going to be prepared to take advantage of it." i think the president had that line. i think the romney people worried he had that line and it would have been a devastating moment. romney right now is trying to make himself moderate mitt. he is in the midst of a moderate makeover. if the president is off the campaign trail he has to act very carefully. >> schieffer: minnesota poll out today, "star tribune" has the race within the margin of error in minnesota. now, we've been hearing some of the romney people who said from the beginning that they thought they had a chance in minnesota. the president is still doing well with independent voters out there. but governor romney seems to be closing the gap when it comes to women voters. again we get back, ruth, to this whole deal of what's happening with the women's vote. >> it's certainly true in the

swing states the president is ahead in more swing states than governor romney. however, the president's job approval rating and his number in all of these states is below 50%. that is a danger signal. >> that's not true. it's generally 50% or more. >> no, it's not. >> it is. >> >> i'm having flash backs to debates, guys. >> i won't interrupt you, if you don't interrupt me. >> we should get a lawyer to litigate this. >> schieffer: go ahead. >> if you go to realclearpolitics.com it's 47%, 48% for the president. that's a danger signal for him. in addition, since the denver debate, independent voters have continued to move to governor romney, and independent voters are, of course, the deciders. i believe that the president has to do a little better both in the swing states and nationally. as an incumbent, if you don't support him now or you're undecide, you're not likely to get those voters on election day. >> that's wrong. i mean, nate silver who modeled

all of this, and who i think has done a pretty good job of this, estimates of the undecided voters in the swing states right now, slightly over 50% are probably likely in the end those to vote for the president. if you look at virginia, bob, this new poll the "washington post" has in virginia, the gender gap has opened up again. the problem we have is there are so many polls. we are living in a poll-littered universe that we tend to lose sight of the fundamentals. the fundamentals are the president has a structural advantage? the battleground states. needs to carry far fewer of them as governor romney, has many more route to 270. and secondly, he does have a superior organization on the ground that's been deeply root paired long time. this has been outsourced by the romney campaign to the rnc. >> schieffer: i'll leath john respond and then we'll take a break. >> there are a lot of outside groups out there getting the vote out for both sides. so i don't think you can just look at the party elements. as for the 50 pthe president is

below 50% in ohio. he's below 50% in almost all of the swing states. is it you stay at 50%, you stay out of office. >> in the cbs poll in ohio, he's four points ahead. >> but below 50. >> we shouldn't cherry pick-- >> below 50. thage of all the polls still shows him below 50. >> he is at 50% nationally. >> schieffer: if you guys get in a fight when we take a break i'm not going to break it up. you'll have to finish it. >> four more years! four more years! i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar counts.

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...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >> schieffer: and we're back now. ruth marcus, i want to get back to this business about the women's vote. no question, the president had a big lead there. and there's no question that has closed. why do you think that is? >> well, i think to the extent that it's closed-- and i don't want to revise the debate about how much it's closed-- that reflects governor romney's solid and moderate-sounding performance in the debates. and i think to the-- and also to the extent that it's closed, it reflects the larger closure of the polls and the narrowing overall, men and women, postdebate. but i would like to say i think there is still a significant gender gap. there has been a gender gap with women favoring democrats in every election since 1980. there is one now.

women are a majority of the voters. and they are a majority, i think at this point, of the undecided voters. and i thought there was a very interesting number in the "wall street journal" cbs-- sorry, "wall street journal"/nbc poll the other day, "who do you trust on issues of concern to women?" 53 obama, 25 mitt romney. and i think one thing that that reflects is that kind of peripheral but debates we've had during the course of the election about both rape and contraception. and so we recently had the senate candidate from indiana, richard murdoch, making some, i think, unfortunate remarks about how if a pregnancy results from rape the woman should continue it because that's god's intention. this points out the fundamental problem, i think, that the republican party has when it comes to dealing with abortion. they can have one of two positions. either the republican party platform position, which is no abortion in any casees, rape or

incest, which is rejected as extreme. or you can have the mitt romney position in which allows for exceptions. in which case you say, but if abortion is the take of a human life, if the fetus is a person from the moment of conception, why is the method of conception matter? and i think the republicans are going to continue to get themselves tied up in this. >> sure, there are lots of unforced errors here. abortion is an important issue. but it's not the primary issue most people volt on. >> didn't say that. >> in 2010, you had a lot of the same, contraceptions and other rhetoric, and the republicans won the congressional vote in 2010 among women. now, i do believe women care about this issue. they care on both sides of the issue. women are roughly half pro-life and half pro-choice. the real question, there are 600,000 fewer women work today than there were in january 2009. so for a lot of women, they also care about vagu having a job. >> men and women care about

having jobs, and i think women are, of course, on both sides of the abortion debate. but i think that the reason the abortion/contraception debate is more salient now than it was in 2010 is, first of all, that's a different midterm electorate. but also, women can understand having a debate about should there be abortion rights? should there not be abortion rights? i think they coil at being told they have to continue awe pregnancy if raped. they recoil. issues on contraception. it's not the primary voting issue, but to the extent these are undecided voter voters and this sort of meas mais in the air of are the republicans too extreme on these issues? that becomes problematic. >> aiken is within two percentage points. >> that is not true. >> we're cherry picking points. >> this is the last thing the romney campaign wants to be talking about, rape, contraception, even abortion at this point. i think, look, richard murdoch,

todd aikin forcessed this into the conversation. it wasn't there a week and a half ago. it wasn't there before-- it was certainly there but it wasn't the primary focus. the romney campaign wants to talk about the economy. ern talks about the denver debate as being this transcendent moment. in effect, this was the moment moderate mitt sort of debuted in the campaign. and i think that was a very resonant point to a lot of undecide women. >> people don't vote nationally on the basis of what two candidates say in two medium-sized debates. >> here's the way i think it mates out politically. first of all, there's the base. the president wants to talk aboutars bothers because he wants to tell democrats there are real things in stakes in this election. with swing voters-- and i talked to a lot of them-- when you talk to women, they think romney has the answer on the economy. and the worry here for the obama administration is married women. they are less dependent on the government, and less likely to

buy the president's argument. so they're the group want obama campaign is really worried about. when i talk to the married women, on the one hand they say they think romney can handle the economy and they're worried about the republicans being too extreme and go back and forth. the romney campaign is trying to get them to drop this and think about this at the last minute. there are a small number of undecided voters -- and the question of trust. he was saying trust is a matter central to the presidency, measure important than anything else, and trying to tie that to this notion of romney changing his positions. that was also a pitch to women. romney's pitch, bipartisanship. >> schieffer: let me bring up this, a spent friday, spent a good part of the day with stu rothen bargain, and charlie cook, and i would these are the most respected analysts going today. both told me separately they could not remember a time this deep into the campaign when they said they had no idea how this was going to come out.

i want to go around the table, i'll start with you, bob. what do you think is going to happen? >> i think the president is going to win. he has a big advantage in the elect torral college and in terms of what john and ruth are saying, a republican, a friend of mine who ran republican campaigns, said they backed themselves into a demographic cul-de-sac, with women, hispanices, younger voters who are repeld by a lot of what they say on social issues. >> schieffer: you think it's obama? >> yes. >> i think independent voters continue to move away from the president because he has not been able to convince people the economy will be better in the next four years. and the president remeans under 50%. and-- >> he, doesn't, in many of the states. i'm sorry, john. you want to do the real-- in many of the states, in many-- it didn't. in many of the states he is at 50%. >> >> schieffer: i'm going to give the reporters on a pass. go ahead. >> i do believe we do have a danger, though, of going to recount. and i hope we can control the passions exercised--

>> that's not a passion. if you want to get fact rul, that's all. >> and one of these days, i won't be interrupting you, but you will continue to interrupt me. >> yi will, when you're not fact rul, i will, actually. >> schieffer: 30 secondes, john. >> the president has demographic advantages and ground game advantages. the question is whether it allows him to hold back the romney surge that started after the denver debate and is waning and most analysts think has come to a standstill. the question is what the president builds up with his grouped game and advantages help him. >> schieffer: i have to stop right here. back in a second. thank you all a lot.

>> schieffer: in today's world, when everyone comment on everything, even debate moderators get reviewed. so in the interest of full disclosure and fairness, we pass on the following, which is our "face the nation" flashback. >> the final presidential debate was held tonight, in boca raton, florida, and was moderated by

75-year-old bob schieffer from cbs news. that's right. ( laughter ) 75-year-old bob schieffer. yeah. 75 years old, or as florida residents call that, a 'tween. ( laughter ) when the ladies of boca got a look at bob, they're like, "who's the fresh meet?" i thought bob schieffer did a great job. before the debate bob schieffer instructed the audience not to clap for anything reason because in his house that makes the light go on and off. ( laughter ) woman, this is not bob schieffer's first time. he moderatedly the bush-kerry debates in 2004, and the lincoln-douglas debate in 1858. >> schieffer: in today's world, i can take that. we'll be right back with an update on hurricane sandy, stay with us.

>> schieffer: we're back with david bernard from wfor fair final update on hurricane sandy. david. >> bob, we're looking at a really big storm here. this is the latest information just in from the hurricane center, and the storm is moving northeast at 14. it's about 500 miles south of new york city, and the track remains the same. we're looking at a landfall tomorrow night, early tuesday morning, somewhere between the long island sound and ocean city, maryland. and along just north of thereux there's going to be a tremendous storm surge.

look at the size of the hurricane. already those bands affecting portions of the east coast, really gigantic and the wind field with it is incredible. tropical storm-force winds by tomorrow morning will reach from boston all the way to wilmington, north carolina, and during the day tomorrowlet hur kaness-force wind gusts will overspread most of the i-95 corridor and those damaging winds are probably going to stick around right into tuesday. when we see those kinds of winds, bob, we're going to have to worry about widespread power outages and pay lot of do you understand trees as well. and on the coast, the coastal flooding could be quite severe. this is an enormous storm and one people need to take seriously. >> schieffer: thank you very much, dave. and we'll stay with you. we'll invite all of you to stay tuned to cbs news and cbsnews.com. we'll have the very latest on the storm. that's it for us here. we'll see you next week right here if the creeks don't rise on "face the nation"."

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